Geniza Lab

Recto: several lines of Arabic poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. A few words from the same poems are also written out in Arabic on the page on the right, along with other jottings and crossed-out lines in Arabic. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic rhymed prose on the theme of heartbreak ("O heart... you endured the afflictions of the stars... you loved a hard-hearted Turk," etc.) ASE.

Recto: Arabic poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic (helpfully headed "this is poetry"). Verso: An obscure incantation (?) in Judaeo-Arabic. Needs further examination. ASE.

Recto: Arabic love poetry transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. Verso: One very faded line in Arabic, then in Hebrew characters, "Abu Sa'id b. Muslim." ASE.

Recto: The same love poem in both Judaeo-Arabic (above) and Arabic (below). Verso: More Arabic love poetry that has been transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. ASE.

Arabic poems transcribed into Judaeo-Arabic. A version of the second of them is still circulating in online forums, attribution unclearتغيرت الايام وانقلب الدهرو ~ وصار خيار الناس ليس لهو قدرووصار اخم الناس يعلو خيارهم ~ فما اصبح الايام وما اعجب الدهرو. In the hand of Nāṣir al-Adīb al-ʿIbrī.

On one of the four pages: two lists of materia medica in Arabic, each headed by a basmala, perhaps medical prescriptions. Ingredients include sarcocolla (anzarūt) and white tragacanth (kathīrāʾ abyaḍ). On the other three pages: an unusual mix of Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew poetry. Across from the prescriptions are lines in Judaeo-Arabic. On the other side of the fragment, the right page starts in Judaeo-Arabic and ends in Hebrew. The left page consists of very short lines with the first half in Hebrew and the second half in Judaeo-Arabic. This page is signed David b. Moshe ha-Levi and dated 22 Iyar 1565 Seleucid, which is 1254 CE. ASE

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer mentions a warrāq and a promissory note (ḥujja) for 5 dinars. On verso there is literary text in Arabic, perhaps a collection of poetry (wa-ghayruhu... ghayruhu...).

Arabic poem, transcribed into Hebrew script. At least some of the originally Islamic elements were kept ("fa-wa-lladhī anzala furqānahu ʿalā l-nabiyyi l-muṣṭafā l-muntajab"). There are two bifolia here, so 8 pages. The order is somewhat difficult to reconstruct, but it appears to narrate the love between a woman named Jamal(?) and a man named Ghamr(?) and the poetic letters they exchange. Ghamr dies, and she elegizes him, and a man named Qutayba then starts to court her. Al-Ḥajjāj (the king?) appears as well. There are several joins (see T-S Ar.37.15, T-S AS 161.95, and FGP Joins Suggestions). Merits further examination.